Wow! It's been a few days since I posted. I haven't had much time on the computer in the past few days.

Can I say it loudly enough? SPRING BREAK IS HERE!!!!!!! Oh my word, do I EVER need this time away from my kids!

Today and yesterday we had field trips. Yesterday I came this (ll) close to just plain old CANCELING the field trip because they
were behaving so badly. On the field trip itself, they behaved okay, although the lady who I put "M" with told me that she
never wants to drive for my class again. Today's field trip went okay as well, and they behaved, okay.
Of course I had a fun thing to deal with this afternoon. (NOT!) One of my boys apparentlally made a VERY rude and disgusting and not age appropriate comment about another boy and girl in my class yesterday during P.E. Of course, I didn't find out about it
until today during lunch recess when the little girl about whom the comment had been made, shouted it out to me that so and so had siaid x y z. I couldn't help it but my jaw hit the ground at first. I of course spoke to all parties involved. The little boy who apparentlaly made the comment denied making it. The other boy who he'd supposedly told the comment to, insisted that he HAD said it. One of them was a pastor's kid. The little girl involved was a pastor's kid. I really had no idea what to do because I had no reason to distrust what either of the two boys were saying, other than wondering How In The World did they EVER come up with something like that??????? The vice principal was on the same field trip (only in the afternoon) so I left word with our secretary to have her get in touch with me AS SOON as she got back, and NOT later than 3pm when the kids would go home. She got back about 10 minutes before school was over, and talked to the involved kids. She got the same story from them that I was able to get. She also was befuddled as to what to do. It ended up that she talked to each of the parents of the involved students, essentially telling them what had been said, and that there were two conflicting stories. I don't know what the end result of all this is going to be. I just know that this is YET another reason why I am SO glad to be getting out of teaching at the end of this year!!!!

Otherwise the past four days of school have just been . . . miserable, with only a few good points thrown in there. One of them being one of my second grade girls giving me two beautiful handmade cards out of the blue "I love you teacher. You're the best teacher. I love your teaching." This from a little girl who's mother complained all last year (and this year was ready to pull her out because I was her teacher again) about my not giving enough homework. (She wanted at least TWO HOURS of homework a night. I personally don't think a child in first or second grade should have more than 10 MINUTES of "homework" a night. Majorly conflicting philosophies.)

My dad got here Wednesday night. It is so strange having another person in my place. It's also strange going out to eat every night - he wants to, even though I had my pantry, fridge and freezer completely stocked. Oh well, he insists on paying.
When he got here Wednesday night I had had to park my car in an umarked spot because someone had been in MY assigned spot. Well, my spot was empty after we got back from the Cafe Brazil (yummy omelettes!) so he parked in my space. The next morning (Thursday) I was running WAY late for work and was only focused on getting there. Apparentlally I missed the fact that his car was no longer in my parking spot!!! Eventually he came out and saw his car was gone. At first he thought it was stolen, but then eventually figured out that it had been towed. He got it out of hock and stopped by my apartment managers office to get a parking pass. I hadn't done that beforehand because I thought that you had to have the persons driver's license and the car's license plate #, but apparentlally you don't. I offered to pay him what it cost him, because I felt it was partly my fault, but he refused to even hear of it. As far as his trial goes, well he managed to make a deal, and so won't be going to trial. I am glad for that. He will still be here though till next Thursday taking care of final details (at my place, he was only supposed to be here till Sunday.)

I took my cat Monkey to the Vet on Tuesday for his dental cleaning. I had to drop him off on Tuesday afternoon because they don't open till 7:30a.m. and I have to be at work by no later than 8a.m. Poor kitty. I picked him up on Wednesday afternoon. He really is a very gentle, agreeable cat - USUALLY. But, the vet nurses? had to have me go back to the kennel area and put him back in his carrier because he wouldn't let them touch him. LOL It turns out that he did have one tooth where the gums are a bit recessed and they were afraid that he might lose that tooth. So they put some antibiotics in that area. Then they also gave me a bottle of antibiotics (liquid.) I get the pleasure of giving him 3oz each night. I've never given an animal medicine before. Let me tell you this - the first night it took me one hour and 15 minutes to get the stuff down him. Last night and tonight somehow I found the magical hold or something, and it took only about 5 or 6 minutes. I am NOT looking forward to doing this for the next two weeks. I am giving him a treat after each medicine dose in an effort to have him associate *something* positive about it.
****The vet did cost a pretty penny, but not quite as much as they'd first estimated. ~$216. OUCH!***

I don't even want to think about what kind of spending I've done the past couple of days. The major one of course was Monkey's vet bill, but I also did succumb to food callings - though Pizza Hut DID NOT get a call from me.

This is WAY too long tonight, but believe me, I'm leaving a lot out. I am going to try to keep up with this better the next few days, even if just for a short check in (yeah right, am I capable of such a thing?)

Keeping It Frugal In Texas,
Laura